On February 15, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The operation was conducted on February 16, and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €61.80 billion, €1.60 billion higher than the bid amount of the previous week. The amount was allotted in full at a fixed rate equivalent to the prevailing MRO rate of 0.05 per cent, in accordance with current ECB policy.
On Wednesday, February 17, the ECB conducted a seven-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lendingin conjunction with the US Federal Reserve.
This operation attracted bids of $0.09 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.89 per cent.
Domestic Treasury bill market
In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 91-day and 182-day bills maturing on May 19 and August 18, respectively. Bids of €1 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting them all, while no bids were submitted for the 182-day bills. Since €21 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €20 million, to stand at €323.85 million.
The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.130 per cent, up by 1.1 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on February 11, representing a bid price of 100.0329 per 100 nominal.
During the week under review, there was no trading on the Malta Stock Exchange.
Today, the Treasury will invite tenders for 91-day and 182-day bills maturing on May 26 and August 25, respectively.